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U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle will continue to oversee a case against Medtronic Inc. even though his son works for a law firm that represents the Fridley-based medical-technology company.

In court documents filed Monday, Kyle rejected claims by plaintiffs’ attorneys that he should recuse himself from overseeing the case because his son, Richard Kyle Jr., works at Fredrikson & Byron law firm in Minneapolis. Fredrikson & Byron counts Medtronic as one of its corporate clients.

Kyle Sr. said in the filing that because his son works in criminal cases and has never represented Medtronic, there is no grounds for recusal.

In January, Kyle dismissed hundreds of cases of patients who claimed they had been harmed by Medtronic’s Sprint Fidelis defibrillator product. Kyle ruled that Medtronic is protected against such lawsuits. Medtronic recalled the product in October 2007.

jniemela@bizjournals.com | (612) 288-2138

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